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S197 3V Fabman's build; How did we get here? Build Thread

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I had a relative on Wake Island, he made it out of the war but died young, an uncle wounded at Bastogne, and another uncle who made 3 landings as a combat engineer and chased the Germans across the Alps. My dad was a Navy medic, and I was his only son...and he forbid me to join the service, as there was no draft at that time. ( I guess he figured Uncle Sam got the most out of our family already) so I spent 32 years as a firefighter...I probably should've joined the Navy as a medic, I may have been shot at less...lol
 

Fabman

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I had a relative on Wake Island, he made it out of the war but died young, an uncle wounded at Bastogne, and another uncle who made 3 landings as a combat engineer and chased the Germans across the Alps. My dad was a Navy medic, and I was his only son...and he forbid me to join the service, as there was no draft at that time. ( I guess he figured Uncle Sam got the most out of our family already) so I spent 32 years as a firefighter...I probably should've joined the Navy as a medic, I may have been shot at less...lol
My Dad was also a Navy Medic. I joined the Navy right out of highschool.
 

Fabman

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Great Uncle jumped on Normandy and Holland. He received the French Medal of Honor at the 60th anniversary celebration.

I had 23 years on jump status, no combat jumps.
You'll just never guess what I have at my shop.
The tail section off the spotter plane from the battle of Normandy. It's obviously a historic aircraft and was in bad need of repair and I just happen to have an FAA airframe cert so I welded on a new tail section...the old one is hanging on my wall. You can just see a glimpse of it in my walk around video....

66672_10151504208878535_2086256915_n.jpg205338_10151504209063535_1403769810_n.jpg
 
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In the V6L
Great Uncle jumped on Normandy and Holland. He received the French Medal of Honor at the 60th anniversary celebration...

That must have been awesome - were you there for the ceremony?

Our parent's generation is loaded with stories of bravery and service. My uncle was the gentlest man I ever knew, and he worked on the loading dock at a rail yard for 25 years after the war. One evening over a bottle of rum, he explained what he did in the war... he was an early recruit to the Canadian-American Special Service force. The Germans called them the Devil's Brigade. He was in all of the missions from Alaska to France. He was machine-gunned in his parachute over France and when he'd recovered and reported for duty, the army detailer looked at how long he'd been in the unit and the number of missions he'd done, and told him "you're not going back, son, you're going home". The stuff our ancestors did to preserve our freedom - we can never forget - the challenge is helping our kids remember.
 

Fabman

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That must have been awesome - were you there for the ceremony?

Our parent's generation is loaded with stories of bravery and service. My uncle was the gentlest man I ever knew, and he worked on the loading dock at a rail yard for 25 years after the war. One evening over a bottle of rum, he explained what he did in the war... he was an early recruit to the Canadian-American Special Service force. The Germans called them the Devil's Brigade. He was in all of the missions from Alaska to France. He was machine-gunned in his parachute over France and when he'd recovered and reported for duty, the army detailer looked at how long he'd been in the unit and the number of missions he'd done, and told him "you're not going back, son, you're going home". The stuff our ancestors did to preserve our freedom - we can never forget - the challenge is helping our kids remember.

There is a reason they call it "The greatest Generation".

There is a saying:
Hard times create strong men.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
Weak men create hard times.
 

Fabman

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Fabman

Dances with Racecars
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Interesting. Couple of glimpses of the blue Mustang from the "what's he up to now" post of a few days ago, but not enough to see what he's up to with it yet.
;)

A teaser...


27545023_10156110992288535_827415796122683180_n.jpg27752122_10156110992293535_7246440270195857039_n.jpg
 

Fabman

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OK, race car it is. Addition to stable or replacement of current mount is the next question. The clean sheet approach to fixing past sins?
Or perhaps a customer car.
I love a mystery!:):D

Customer car


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Fabman

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Progress pic

IMG_2702.jpg
 

Fabman

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Damn that looks stout. Are your trying to keep King Kong locked up back there? :)
It's just some diagonal's to keep the rear stiff.
Will be tied to the front with the bars I'm putting in now.
Some guys put an X in the main hoop and another inside the rear down bars.
This is just another way of doing it and will make more sense when you see the finished product.
 

Fabman

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Here is the car this one is replacing:

old.jpg

This was the SCCA Spec Mustang Champion for 2017.
See the X in the floor and the diagonal in the rear kickers and roof mounted petty bar?
Also a bar on the floor between the main hoop feet. (Extinguisher is mounted to it)


This is what I m replacing it with:

new.jpg

Less tubing, and better arranged....Petty bar connected to the right place.
Lighter, lower, stronger and better visibility to the rear.
With the old car all you see in the mirror is tubing.
This one has a clear view.
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
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Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
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Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
Ready for door bars!
That rear seat closeout panel came out pretty good. We used .080 aluminum so its stiff enough to not vibrate and sound like crap but it was too thick for my bead roller.
I was very disappointed I didn't get to fancy that up. :(
 

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